back to article Tesco to tout its own smartphone – now THAT'S an unexpected item in the bagging area

Tesco is preparing to launch its own high-end smartphone later this year, chief executive Philip Clarke revealed today. The Android mobe will follow on the heels of the successful Hudl tablet; has UK's biggest retailer was able to shift 550,000 units of its own-brand cut-price 7-inch slab. A new version of the Android tablet, …

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  1. Ketlan
    Meh

    Wotta bargain!

    'Tesco to flog its own smartphone'

    Can we get two for the price of one?

    1. plrndl
      Joke

      Re: Wotta bargain!

      bogof!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wrong item.........

    .... in the bagging area !

  3. Irongut

    Far too creepy Tesco

    This is the reason I refuse to use supermarket club cards. If you use them they know everything you buy from Tesco, use their bank and they know what else you spend your money on, use their mobile network and they know who you call, and now they'll know everything about you thanks to the spyware in their phone.

    Are we sure they aren't a subsidiary of NSAGCHQ Inc?

    1. Haku

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      Are you implying that Tesco is positioning itself to become a 'superpower'?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        Are you implying that Tesco is positioning itself to become a discount 'superpower'?

        FTFY :)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        "Are you implying that Tesco is positioning itself to become a 'superpower'?"

        I've seen that episode of 'Time Trumpet'...

    2. Tom 38

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      I have a MyWaitrose card, but I only use it to get the free paper and tea each day.

      Oh, and I do also shop at Waitrose - not all the time, I'm not rich - I just don't present my 'please track me' card.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        "I have a MyWaitrose card, but I only use it to get the free paper and tea each day."

        You must have been gutted to discover that you have to spend £10 to get the free paper, then. Either that or you do really shop there and use the card...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      what on earth do you buy from the supermarket then? are you worried they'll start sending you insulting text messages based on your last delivery, like "when they say eat five-a-day, they don't mean gingsters pasties, fatty!!!!"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        More like worried that the information will be used as evidence should a crime happen near you. Don't put it past the police to request your purchase history.

        A friend was questioned quite a few times in question with a murder that happened very close to him. Imagine if a recent purchase has been some new kitchen knives, some bin liners and some gaffa tape. I think that would have put him higher up the suspect list.

        You can't really trust the Police even now. Barry George was convicted or murder based upon a miniscule speck of material that may or may not have been gun residue. So while he was freed he still spent around 6 years in prison.

        1. BenBell

          Re: Far too creepy Tesco

          "More like worried that the information will be used as evidence should a crime happen near you"

          That'll teach you to buy a bag of quick lime, a tesco value shovel and a set of kitchen knives at 3AM

    4. DrXym

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      Tesco can mine an enormous amount of data out of a loyalty card - the store you shop most in, what times you shop, the frequency of visits, your average spend, how special offers affect your spending, which parts of the store you visited most, your loyalty to Tesco, your brand loyalty, your favourite brands, your inclination to buy ingredients or prepared products, your preference for automatic / staff tills, your relationship status, your social class, your ethnicity, if you've had a baby recently, how fat / drunk you are, whether you're pregnant, and of course the name, sex, age & address filled in with the card.

      Some of this information is obviously more useful than others and is probably useful for running their business - anticipating demand for products, setting staff levels etc.

      I expect the amount of cross talk between Tesco Clubcard and other services like banking is quite limited thanks to EU data protection laws.

      1. Panimu

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        Good. Hopefully they can target offers to me that I will appreciate. Much like the corner grocers of old.

        1. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

          Re: Far too creepy Tesco

          You mean like most other behavioural advertising, which seems to tell you about stuff you've just looked at or stuff you've just bought, rather than the stuff you'll be looking for, next.

          Either that or telling me people who bought this, also bought these - And I've never worked out what use there is for that piece of stupidity.

      2. Tom 35

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        No Tesco, in Canada but we have been swapping Shoppers cards a work for fun.

      3. FlatSpot
        Holmes

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        I've always wondered if they do similar if you don't use a loyalty card but pay using the same debit card each time. Do they also link all those transactions together, as it must be pretty easy to then find the address of the card holder.

    5. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      I do not actually care if Tesco knows what food I buy, if I was going to buy anything I did not want tracked I would buy elsewhere.

      £10 off a tank of fuel is not to be sniffed at just that Tescos know what I buy in THEIR store.

      It is not like they have aisles upon aisles of sex toys or anything embarrasing.

      Since I am not buying cheap crap alcohol, and ready meals I do not have that embarrasment,

      I avoid other tracking, but shopping at Tescos, what can they actually do which adversly effects me?

      1. codejunky Silver badge

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        @ MJI

        Of course the same argument applies to the health/tax/education data which is being planned for sell off. You are getting some immediate benefits so who cares if your data is being collected, catalogued and sifted through to take future advantage of you?

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: Far too creepy Tesco

          Ref codejunky

          But I have a choice with Tesco, but not with health ect

      2. ukgnome
        Gimp

        @ MJI - Far too creepy Tesco

        So where do you buy your sex toys?

        And why are you buying so many?

        *enquiring minds want to know

        **and so do tesco too

      3. ammabamma
        Big Brother

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        > I avoid other tracking, but shopping at Tescos, what can they actually do which adversly effects me?

        I certainly agree. If you fret too much over it, you'll end up a paranoid nutter in your bunker compound, surrounded by crates of ammo and tins of beans and foaming over data tithed to our acronymic lords and masters...

        However, I believe the onus should be on Tesco et al to prove that they will not adversely effect us rather that us trying to prove that they do.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Far too creepy Tesco

          what on earth do you buy from the supermarket then? are you worried they'll start sending you insulting text messages based on your last delivery

          All you are demonstrating here is a lack of imagination. Yes, that is what they could currently do, Tesco the supermarket. How about Tesco the bank, Tesco the insurance agency? Would you like to be turned down for a mortgage because (and this won't ever be specified, anywhere) because you spend more than £40/month on booze, or you have bought king size rizla before?

          Now show some imagination, what if more people and agencies get access to this data. Get sacked from your job because you were refused a US entry visa?

          For $JOB I do exactly this sort of work. Given multiple disparate, anonymized datasets and one non-anonymized data set, and you can quickly build a picture of who Joe Bloggs actually is.

          Companies want to collect personal data like this because it improves their profits by determining edge cases for which they can charge more, or because they can sell it on to other companies to do the same. Oh, you thought you were only giving your data to Tesco? Nope, Tesco are free to "anonymize" the data and re-sell it.

          All of this data is currently stored and mine-able only because people freely choose to give them their personal data - data that belongs solely to them - in reward for poxy BOGOFs.

          If you fret too much over it, you'll end up a paranoid nutter in your bunker compound, surrounded by crates of ammo and tins of beans

          There is definitely something in that, but you do not have to go insane nor have a bunker to avoid the worst identity tracking - just don't give them your data in return for 15p off a tin of tomatoes.

          I expect the amount of cross talk between Tesco Clubcard and other services like banking is quite limited thanks to EU data protection laws.

          This makes me sad - the entire purpose of structuring Tesco Group as the receiving party of clubcard data is to facilitate Tesco Bank's access to that data.

          1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

            No loyalty card = Terrorist

            If you do not use loyalty cards you must be hiding your participation in a terrorist organisation - just like those dangerous hackers who enable privacy features in the browsers. Failure to carry a mobile phone is sufficient evidence for being arrested for suspicion of terrorism:

            http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/10/mobile_phone_tracking/

            Remember, being suspected of terrorism means you can be imprisoned for 28 days without charge:

            http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/policy.php?id=1039&display=motions

        2. MJI Silver badge

          Re: Far too creepy Tesco

          ref ammabamma

          Thing is Tesco have competitors, I could pop down to Asda and try to park, I could slum it at Sainsburys, drive miles to the other Sainsburys, or pay too much on a long drive to Morrisons.

          My local shop is a large supermarket about 1/4 mile away. So I use it.

          And come to it I trust Tesco more than the government, as governments can become more authitarian (see Nulab)

    6. illiad

      Re: Far too creepy Tesco

      dude, if you use a debit or credit card, then **ALL** the places you use it will know **everything**...

      ANY mobile phone you use, will tell you where you are, and what you say...

      the only way to avoid it is to put lots of cash under your mattress, and live in a cave out of sight...

      Just one problem, Banknotes get changed now and then, so if you do not use them for very long, your millions of notes will soon be worth **NOTHING** !!!!

      1. FlatSpot

        Re: Far too creepy Tesco

        "Just one problem, Banknotes get changed now and then, so if you do not use them for very long, your millions of notes will soon be worth **NOTHING** !!!!"

        Thats not true.. The Bank of England will pay face value of any UK note you present to them, you just have to journey up to London.

  4. Pen-y-gors

    Can it be cleaned up?

    Will users be able to uninstall all the Tesco apps and tracking crap without rooting the whole phone?

    1. sabroni Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Never mind that!

      Can I wipe it and put a PROPER linux on there?

      1. 's water music

        Re: Never mind that!

        can it run crysis?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Can it be cleaned up?

      Will users be able to uninstall all the Tesco apps and tracking crap without rooting the whole phone?

      Ah, now I know where all the Sony VAIO staff has gone...

  5. James Boag

    re Can it be cleaned up?

    Yes, Simply enter your club card number in the app below !

  6. Kaltern

    I'm waiting for Google to announce a multi-billion buy out of TESCO - then they'll have more data than they'll know what to do with

  7. hammarbtyp

    Why high end?

    I can't imagine Samsung or Apple users being tempted by a phone with Tesco plastered all over it. Maybe if it was Waitrose

    Instead of high end they should go for the PAYG market and subsidies it's price with the information gathered through the Tesco installed services

    1. James Hughes 1

      Re: Why high end?

      Really? I reckon given a decent enough spec, this thing will fly off the shelves. Look how well the Hudl did from a standing start, I think that gives *some* idea of the demographic of buyers in Tesco - they want cheap but decent (and the Hudl is both, I would expect this to be as well - similar spec but cheaper than SS high end)

      1. hammarbtyp

        Re: Why high end?

        The Hudl is relatively low end in terms of both specification and price. It's was good value when it came out but today you can easily get a tablet of similar spec and lower price. Anyway from my experience most of them are owned by kids, which are not really Tesco's core demographic with limited spending power

        Tesco says their phone is going after the high end, presumably because that's where the money is. But the real question is what price it will be. it will have to have a significant discount for people to abandon established manufacturers for basically a marketing tool. Especially when a Moto G covers a lot of those basis already

    2. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Why high end?

      >I can't imagine Samsung or Apple users being tempted

      That's probably because you are misreading what Tesco's mean by "high-end". I suggest that the Hudl was a high-end tablet for the price point. Putting a "high-end" spec'd phone in the space that Samsung et al put their so-so mid to low end phones would probably get attention...

      Given Archos have a range of smartphones, wouldn't be surprised if this isn't another Archos joint venture.

  8. frank ly

    "... and come with Tesco apps for buying groceries and clothing ..."

    Oh no! However, I am very happy with my Tesco Mobile SIM only deal, at £10 a month for 1000 minutes, 1GB and 5000 txts. If you look on their website, they keep doing some very good offers that appear for a few weeks then vanish. Catch one and you've got it on a 12 month contract.

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: "... and come with Tesco apps for buying groceries and clothing ..."

      What could be more high-end than a bloke in Tesco cropped cargo pants and polo shirt. All they need now is to announce a few 'celebs' to endorse it.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "... and come with Tesco apps for buying groceries and clothing ..."

      Doesn't compare with the£10 I paid Orange 10 years ago and which I'm still running on!

  9. Stuart Ball

    Other supermarkets are not the target. Amazon UK is.

    Given that Amazon will drop ship regular deliveries of dry groceries at a predetermined price, the Hudl2 & Hudl Phone are aimed at the Kindle Fire segments, IMO.

    1. h3

      Maybe

      If the branding is not too bad (Don't want to be advertising Tesco for them. If it had say that Hudl Logo I would be ok with that) and the bootloader is unlocked I might get one presuming it is half decent hardware and well built.

      A war between Tesco and Amazon can only be good for the customer.

  10. TRT Silver badge

    I hope they use thicker plastic...

    than they use for their bl**dy "carrier" bags. "Carrier" being a somewhat optimistic description of what they are supposed to do.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

      >> "Carrier" being a somewhat optimistic description of what they are supposed to do.

      "You shop, you drop", then.

      1. Eradicate all BB entrants

        Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

        They just don't want the staff getting hassled when the charges for carrier bags come in, so they are shipping them in thinner and thinner plastic with strategic slits already supplied, so you plump for the re-usable ones.

        Asda have been doing the same for a while now, which is why despite some adept double bagging I still had to sweep up 3 bottles of Fursty Ferret the other week.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

          Sweep? Slurp.

        2. Da Weezil

          Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

          Had the 5p charge in Wales for years now, Have never yet paid it - I just keep some of the "bag for life" in the car - Ok I paid 6p for the Asda ones (cheaper than Tesco) but they have long since been swapped out when they split or wore through. Ive not seen anyone giving staff hassle over it, we are just annoyed that the 'tards in Cardiff bay are as grabby as the 'tards on the Thames - and just as divorced from reality as any other politician.

          I dont do all my shopping at Tesco plus I often shop for family and neighbours using my Clubcard so Tesco have a very confused idea of "who I am". As for the mobile - the Tesco SIM only plan suited me both in terms of cost and being a 30 day contract, if a better deal comes along then I'll be off. Maybe I'm strange but I shop at places that fit the need and "target price", not because it is xxxxxxx (insert name of chain here)

    2. MJI Silver badge

      Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

      The carriers last for ages, some of our a two years old.

      Don't tell me you do not reuse carrier bags!

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

        Tesco started using "disintegrating"* plastic bags a while back.

        I used to use one of those little sock thingies to hold them for reuse or rubbish bin liners until it started dispensing small fragments of plastic.

        * The ones which break down after 30 days or less. Less being the operative word.

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: I hope they use thicker plastic...

          Those are hopeless so we reuse older stronger ones

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Will it sell for a different price

    At each Tesco store, and be a different price whenever I walk into any given branch of Tesco?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Remember this

    You are the Product, not the crap they sell to [redacted].

    Get one of these and try going shopping in your local ASDA (Wallyworld.uk) with location turned on. Watch for the adverts pleading for you to return to the fold.

    Ignore them, and ....

    Suddenly you phone loses connection to the network and all your Tesco Phone connectied friends get tweets calling you a traitor to the cause.

  13. Allan 1

    Oh god No!

    I'm with Tesco Mobile at the moment, only because they gave me a good deal on a Galaxy S3. I thought at the time, "OK, so they use the O2 network, it can't be that bad."

    I was right, its not that bad. Its worse. I can barely get a signal at home, in fact anywhere thats not "city centre" has an atrocious signal, and I have just over a year of a two year contract left.

    If they want to make a success of their own phone, they need to use a better carrier network imo.

    1. James Hughes 1

      Note to Allen 1

      All the networks are the same. In my particular part of Cambridgeshire, I cannot get a reception on anything.

    2. Mr_Pitiful

      @ Allan 1

      It's not just you with this issue

      I was on a Tesco PAYG phone for years and it worked all over the house.

      I wanted a contract phone and ended up with a Galaxy S3 on O2

      No signal to be found anywhere near where I live, but

      If I put the sim into my old Tesco phone, Hey Presto, Full signal on O2 everywhere

      I think it's the Galaxy that's the problem, not the network in my area

  14. auburnman

    I don't know where they'll find a niche in the market for this really. Aiming at the high end like they are apparently planning feels like a non-starter if the Tesco brand is going to be plastered all over it.

    Not to mention the hurdle to clear to be considered 'high end' keeps going up - the super cheap (for what you get) Moto G has redefined the mid-lower end of the range, and you can get older model Samsung galaxies brand new now for (comparatively) dirt cheap.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    customers will have a Tesco current account linked to their phone

    whether they like it or not. But hey, if someone wants a high-end TESCO mobile... surely they deserve this!

  16. All names Taken
    Alien

    Yeh but No but...

    To be fair to Tesco they do TV's, sound systems, DVD players, ... so why not mobile phones too.

  17. Tony Green

    I wonder

    If it'll come pre-installed with an app to find your nearest closed pub. Tesco seem very good at closing them and turning them into shops, even when the pubs were doing fine beforehand.

  18. Elmer Phud

    Tesco advisor

    "Hello, from our GPS tracking you appear to be going in to a different store. The products you are most likely to buy can be bought cheaper at your usual Tesco Temple.

    If you choose to continue in to this store you may find your phone becoming hotter and hotter - leave now you traitor before we burn your nuts off!"

  19. Peter X

    Better value than Moto G + GiffGaff?

    You can buy a Moto G from Amazon for £120 now - completely unlocked, so Tesco will have to work hard to create something better value than that. Really, it'll have to be lower-spec and lower-price to be worth it.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Regretfully

    Trying to integrate yet more services and thus expecting me to turn more of my life over to a single corporation isn't going to get me off the budget supermarket that simply wants to flog me stuff and get money for it.

    This was all forecast back in the 1950s in Pohl & Kornbluth's The Space Merchants, a dystopic look at corporatisation and the role in it of advertising. It seems still to be in print, no excuses for not having read it.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Regretfully

      Tesco are neither particularly cheap, nor particularly good quality for most of what they sell and the good stuff is usually significantly cheaper elsewhere

      Sitting in that space is deadly to a supermarket chain and is the prime cause of their loss of competitiveness.

  21. christophe2009

    High End?

    Regardless of what brand they stick on it, how can they expect to compete with the Apples, Samsungs and Sony of this world? How will they tempt anybody away, even with huge discounts?

    And it's bad enough seeing 'Sent from my iPhone' tagged on the end of an email. The day I see 'Sent from my Tesco Phone. P.S. 3 for 2 on Tena Lady', well...

    1. HippyFreetard

      Re: High End?

      The Hudl was a success because it was affordable and in time for Christmas (actually, I think they sold out). The Hudl is pretty much a Tab 7" or iPad Mini clone, visually. This means that those in poorer families are able to afford a "high end" looking item, even if it's not a "high end" example of that type of hardware. iPad Mini is £200-400, the Tab 3 7" is roughly the same price as the Hudl, but with slightly less spec.

      I don't think Tesco will be able to repeat this with their phone. Apple's nice, but it's still out of budget for a lot of people. Same with the higher-end Samsung Android phones. Even with the best specs in the world, Tesco isn't exactly a status brand. Rappers won't be boasting about their Tesco phones. If they're going to be successful, they should make a budget phone that looks nice, but crams as much spec as people can afford for Granny's first smartphone.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: High End?

        Your logic is good, but you're assuming that Tesco is going to be sourcing from a well known vendor (I won't say manufacturer for obvious reasons.)

        There are now several Chinese manufacturers making stuff with relatively high specs because they can, but they don't have sales or marketing budget. Supplying Tesco would give them an immediate and free market presence.

        This is basically how Apple works (design, marketing and sales operation for Chinese manufacturing), the difference is that Tesco only has to break even to win, and they don't have the R&D costs.

        Oppo and Oneplus are the obvious suspects. If I could buy the Oneplus One at Tesco prices, I might even ignore the branding, just like people will ignore the Toyota badge to get a GT-86 because it's 2/3 the price of a Boxster.

        1. MJI Silver badge
          Devil

          Re: High End?

          GT86

          Not a bad car. Nor the Subaru.

          Now Subarus are normally blue and the GT86 normally read so have a red car icon.

    2. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: High End?

      "And it's bad enough seeing 'Sent from my iPhone'"

      That's the 21st century version of a "12 o'clock flasher"

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